Precalculus

Precalculus Review

Until recently, Mount Mercy College, where I teach math and computers, had a two-course precalculus sequence in the mathematics curriculum. If that were still the case, this is the book I would select as the text. I found it so readable, not in the sense of understanding, but in the sense of being easy on the eyes. Using blue and red to highlight headers and other key topic pointers, I found it very easy to follow. In terms of coverage, it is standard; there is nothing here that differentiates it from any other text written for the two-semester sequence.
There are many exercises at the ends of the sections and chapters and solutions to all of them appear in an appendix. One characteristic that I found very positive was that there is very little in the way of technology. What does appear is limited to the use of graphing calculators. In general, I find books that demonstrate how to do mathematical operations using a graphing calculator, a symbolic math package and Excel to be morbidly obese. To me, doing everything three ways is an absurd waste of time. I applaud the authors for their choice, after all even without the heavy presence of technology; the book is still over 1000 pages.




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The Barnett, Ziegler, Byleen "College Algebra" series is designed to be user friendly and to maximize student comprehension. The goal of this series is to emphasize computational skills, ideas, and problem solving rather than mathematical theory. Precalculus introduces a unit circle approach to trigonometry and can be used in one or two semester college algebra with trig or precalculus courses. The large number of pedagogical devices employed in this text will guide a student through the course. Integrated throughout the text, students and instructors will find Explore-Discuss boxes which encourage students to think critically about mathematical concepts. In each section, the worked examples are followed by matched problems that reinforce the concept being taught. In addition, the text contains an abundance of exercises and applications that will convince students that math is useful. A Smart CD is packaged with the seventh edition of the book. This CD reinforces important concepts, and provides students with extra practice problems.

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Customer Review

good book - csacsa32 -
not too complicated.
straight forward examples.
not recommended for trig/math analysis course takers.

*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Apr 24, 2010 10:48:13

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